Breaking New Ground—Stories from Defence Construction Breaking_new_ground | Page 38

Completed in 1961, the National Defence
Medical Centre in Ottawa was deemed one
of the most modern hospitals of its day.

To NORAD and beyond
The late 1950s and early 1960s were a pivotal time for those working in
government and in defence. In 1957, prompted in part by the Liberal
government’s handling of the debate surrounding the Northern Ontario
Pipeline project (which DCL would be instrumental in building), John
Diefenbaker’s Conservatives ousted Louis St. Laurent’s Liberals.
The same year, the Soviets successfully tested their first intercontinental
ballistic missile, which the DEW Line and other radar systems could not
detect—these programs had to be modified.
On September 12, 1957, Canada and the U.S. announced the North American
Air Defence (NORAD) agreement, providing for the closer integration,
command and control of the U.S. Air Force and the RCAF for defending
North America. The agreement was officially signed on May 12, 1958.

Ebbs and flows
As political and defence priorities created peaks and valleys in the volume
of work, DCL’s structure as a Crown corporation allowed it to similarly
increase or decrease in size as needed. Former DCL President Joe Bland
noted in a 2007 interview that it was a good way to grow:
The big thing abou t a Crown corporation that works so well is that… we had
a few permanent employees and a lot of temporary employees. Naturally,
when the program volume fluctuated, we would have to lay people off who
were temporary, but we could pick our assessment of the cream of the crop
and hang on to them. As time went on, you got better and better.
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BREAKING NEW GROUND
DEFENCE CONSTRUCTION CANADA